Federal Hy-Shok Powder

Just wanted to see if anybody out there knows the brand of powder Federal uses in the .45 ACP 230 gr. Hy-Shok. Is it proprietary, a special recipe or do they purchase from the big powder houses? I pulled a bullet and weighed the powder@5.2 grains. Not sure, just curious. I reload Berry's 230 grns. RN w/ 5.3 grns of Win. 231 and like how it performs in my Kimber.

Federal Hi-Shok you mean? The quickest way to get definite information would be with a phone call directly to Federal/ATK--they've always been very helpful for me; the slow way would be be an email to their customer service tech dept

rcmodel

June 21, 2012, 02:04 PM

Save yourself a phone call.
They won't tell you.

If they did tell you, they will have to kill you!

Seriously, with very few exceptions, no ammo manufacture uses off the shelf canister powders available to reloaders.

They blend bulk powder lots to reach desired cost, pressure, & performance goals.
And the same ammo you buy next month or next year will very likely be using a different blend & charge weight.

rc

Rolling Thunder Bob

June 21, 2012, 04:22 PM

I have an in-law that works for ATK small arms ammo div., I'll give him a call. Curiousity, not much more. I've also heard that Winchester Powder is sold under another name. Same product, lower price. If so, I guess I will shop for the best bargain. Thanks.

St. Marks (General Dynamics) bought the company that made Win. Ball powders. Then Alliant (ATK) & St. Marks formed the "American Powder Company" All the news releases are at these links. Read what i posted. http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?83075-Powder-manufactures And the other http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?83001-ADI-Powders I think if you read the info, you would guess most powder used in factory ammo is available to the reloader. :) Just a guess on my part. :scrutiny:

longdayjake

June 21, 2012, 08:15 PM

Whenever I have bought surplus pistol powder I was told to use data for either bullseye or w231. I don't know if that helps at all.

CALL THEM. They may tell you. I called Hornady and inquired about their .223 and .308 TAP ammo and they told me the exact data with powder and weight of bullet. They told me the only thing I couldn't do was load the powder they were using. It was a version of Varget with a flash supressant in it for low light firing. They said other than that it was exactly the same. I loaded up both .223 and .308 with the data they provided and it did real well.

As rc said, what you get today and what you get next quarter might not be the same. There was a gunzine article about the PD that ordered a fresh supply of ammo from the same company and got an entirely different load. Velocity and no doubt pressure specs were met but they neglected to call for flash suppressant and the new stuff was very flashy.

Another author describes a military team ordering factory match ammunition and pulling a bullet whenever a new lot number came in. Extruded powder loads were saved for 600 yard slow fire, ball powder went to the shorter ranges and practice. The mil-spec did not cover powder type even though it made a difference to the shooter.

Another article described the introduction of the 7mm 08 Remington. The author pulled down a RP factory load and noticed that the powder sure looked like W748 and the charge was in the range used for wildcat 7mm .308. Sure enough, a reload with that weight of 748 was a factory duplicate, no special blend or secret recipe here. (He also concluded the bullet was a Hornady, Remington not making a 140 gr Corlokt at the time. All these outfits are in cahoots with each other.)

An old Hercules pamphlet said they then made nine different grades of Red Dot, identified as Red Dot 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90. Retail "cannister grade" was Red Dot 30. The others went to OEM to meet the needs for various factory loads.

When Vihtavuori was new on the US market, they said they made thirty some-odd powders and sold 13 at retail. They now catalogue 26. Do they make more or just release more at retail? I dunno.

ArchAngelCD

June 23, 2012, 05:38 AM

Just to expand on the powder issue. Hornady is using blended powders in their Leverevolution ammo. None are the same so the powder used in their 30-30 ammo is different than their 35 Rem ammo and so on. It just so happens the blend Hodgdon released as their canister Leverevolution powder is the blend used in Hornady's 30-30 ammo. (which is good for me since that's what I'm using it for lol)

The same holds true for the Hornady Superformance ammo and Hodgdon Superformance powder. Hornady uses different blends for each caliber while Hodgdon can release only 1 in their Superformance powder line. (sorry, I don't know which blend is in the canister powder)

243winxb

June 23, 2012, 06:14 PM

www.hodgdon.com LEVERevolution®

Hodgdon® Powder Company and Hornady® Manufacturing have teamed together to answer the frequently asked reloading question; "Can I buy the powder used in Hornady LEVERevolution factory ammunition?" Yes, this is the same spherical propellant used in Hornady's innovative and award winning high performance factory ammunition. This fabulous propellant meters flawlessly and makes lever action cartridges like the 30-30 Winchester yield velocities in excess of 100 fps over any published handloads, with even greater gains over factory ammunition. Other cartridges include the 35 Remington, 308 Marlin Express, 338 Marlin Express and the 25-35 Winchester. The list of cartridges and bullets is limited with this highly specialized powder, but where it works, it really works!
I only know what i read. :)

243winxb

June 23, 2012, 06:20 PM

www.hodgdon.com SUPERFORMANCE®

This is another of the spherical powders Hodgdon® Powder Company and Hornady® Manufacturing introduced to answer the frequently asked reloading question: "Can I buy the powder used in the Hornady Superformance factory ammunition?" Superformance delivers striking velocities in cartridges like the 22-250 Remington, 243 Winchester and 300 Winchester Short Magnum. Velocities well in excess of 100 fps over the best published handloads and even larger gains over factory ammunition! Because this propellant is tailored for specific applications, the number of cartridges and bullets is limited, but where it works, it really works!
:)